Vault Comics Delays, Then Makes Unnatural Order #1 Free To Comic Shops

Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Vault | Tagged: Christopher yost, Unnatural Order, val rodrigues

Vault Comics is making the first issue of their new series Unnatural Order #1 by Christopher Yost and Val Rodrigues, free to comic book retailers.

Vault Comics is making the first issue of their new series Unnatural Order #1 by Christopher Yost and Val Rodrigues, free to comic book retailers. Intended to be one of their biggest comic launches of the year, but Vault Comics won’t be making any money from it. Originally planned for July, it didn’t ship. Vault has now cancelled – and relisted – the listing, free for retailers.

“Unnatural Order #1 comes out in October from Vault Comics,” said writer Christopher Yost. “It’s 30 pages of fantasy/sci-fi/action with a story by me and art by the amazing Val Rodrigues. We’re all very excited about it… I’ve loved comics all my life, but I haven’t had a comic in stores in a while… I was just psyched to be back. And then the gang at Vault ran an idea by me. ‘What if we gave away the first issue to retailers for free?’ I laughed at the obvious joke, because certainly our Corporate Overlords wouldn’t allow that. But this is Vault. They don’t do Corporate Overlords. Vault really wants to do something BIG for the retailers who support all of our work. I don’t pretend to understand the business of it, but they LOVE comics. They love their partners. They want all of us to succeed, to celebrate comics. And so, Unnatural Order #1 comes out in October from Vault Comics… FREE to Retailers.”

Not that it will be free to readers, of course. Comic book retailers still have to eat. But it will give stores more confidence in ordering copies -lots of copies – as well as the ability to run targeted promotions to get customers to trial the launch issue of the Unnatural Order series that “blends fantasy, science fiction, and high-stakes action. In ancient Britain, an unstoppable evil known only as the Druid plunges the world into an age of horror, fire, and sacrifice. But there is one man even the Druid fears. A soldier from another time, who alone knows the Druid’s secret: this is not how the world is supposed to be.”

The standard cover of Unnatural Order #1 will be offered to retailers in free bundles of 25 copies. The issue will retain its $4.99 SRP, and retailers will be free to sell, discount, or freely distribute copies to their customers. In addition to the standard cover, Vault will offer net-priced, open-order premium variant covers from Tula Lotay and Maria Wolf for prices of $10, $15 and $25 cover prices. Vault Comics has deleted the original Diamond listings replacing it with a new one, and delayed until the 11th of October.

“Local comic shops are the reason we still have comics,” said Vault CEO, Damian Wassel. “They’re the reason we have an MCU. It’s not just fans, creators, and publishers who are indebted to comic shops, it’s the whole entertainment industry. We know this has been a tougher than expected year for retailers. So, we’re making a game-changing move. We’re taking our biggest book of the year and giving it to you for free. Give it away or sell it. It’s up to you. What do we ask in return? Simple. Make this the best-selling comic of 2023. Get every copy you order in the hands of a customer within a week. And then, heck, maybe we’ll keep up this crazy gambit with all our new comics.”

That’s the official explanation. My expectation is that orders were lower, way lower than Vault were expecting, and they have decided that something like this might jolt the market into reacting differently to the series. Yost has a long history writing comics for Marvel, including co-creating X-23, now the current Wolerine and Talon, as well as writing movies Thor: Ragnarok, and Star Wars shows The Mandalorian and Rebels. And maybe Vault Comcis thinks the market may react differently than some conservative retailers may have banked on.

Unnatural Order #1 will now be published on the 11th of October. Issue 2 is still scheduled by Diamond for the 4th of October so expect that to change sometime, as well as issue 3 for early November. Lunar doesn’t have a changed listing for Unnatural Order #1, just that it was delayed till September, but has #2 delayed that to the 22nd of November and #3 to the 27th of December

UNNATURAL ORDER #1 CVR A RODRIGUES (25 BUNDLE) (NET)VAULT COMICSJUN238820(W) Chris Yost (A/CA) Val RodriguesChris Yost, co-creator of X-23, writer of hundreds of X-men issues and films and shows like Thor: Ragnarok and The Mandalorian, returns to comic books with Val Rodrigues to weave together Dark Fantasy and action-packed SciFi in UNNATURAL ORDER! After the fall of the Britons and the Roman invasion of Hibernia, the captive known only as the Druid is released, sending a darkness across the world…an age of horrors, of fire and entrails. As the innocent burn in the Wicker fields, those who would resist learn of the existence of a man who even the Druid fears. For it is this prisoner, a soldier from a different time, who alone knows the Druid’s secret: this is not how the world is supposed to be.In Shops: Oct 11, 2023Final Orders Due: Sep 04, 2023 SRP: $4.99

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